In molecular biology, the iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis protein family of includes proteins involved in biogenesis of Fe-S clusters (iron-sulfur cluster insertion protein, Fe/S biogenesis protein). This family includes IscA, HesB, YadR and YfhF-like proteins. The hesB gene is expressed only under nitrogen fixation conditions, within nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria.[1] IscA, an 11 kDa member of the hesB family of proteins, bindsiron and [2Fe-2S] clusters, and participates in the biosynthesis of iron-sulfur proteins. IscA is able to bind at least 2 iron ions per dimer.[2] Other members of this family include various hypothetical proteins that also contain the NifU-like domain suggesting that they too are able to bind iron and are involved in Fe-S cluster biogenesis. The HesB family are found in species as divergent as Homo sapiens (Human) and Haemophilus influenzae suggesting that these proteins are involved in basic cellular functions.[3]
References
^Huang TC, Lin RF, Chu MK, Chen HM (March 1999). "Organization and expression of nitrogen-fixation genes in the aerobic nitrogen-fixing unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain RF-1". Microbiology. 145 (3): 743–53. doi:10.1099/13500872-145-3-743. PMID10217509.
^Cupp-Vickery JR, Silberg JJ, Ta DT, Vickery LE (April 2004). "Crystal structure of IscA, an iron-sulfur cluster assembly protein from Escherichia coli". J. Mol. Biol. 338 (1): 127–37. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2004.02.027. PMID15050828.